Page 30 of Mafia Men Need Love Too
“I thought it took months to get a reservation here,” River whispered. “Why is it empty?”
“They canceled all their reservations for us.”
She blinked at him. “You mean you rented it out?”
“Rented makes it sound…unseemly somehow,” he said with a smirk. “I persuaded them to accommodate us this evening.”
Silently doing the math on how many thousands of dollars it would take to persuade an owner to close their highly profitable, totally booked restaurant for an entire night, River didn’t answer right away. But when she determined the numbers were too big to deal with in her head, she gave up and just accepted that Nico had more money than someone like her could fathom. He probably never waited until double coupon days at the grocery store to buy cereal (which was ridiculously overpriced for no damn good reason at all).
The thought of Nico stalking the cereal aisle for a box of on-sale Cheerios did make her chuckle, though.
Then she wondered what he meant by persuade…
She swallowed hard. “Did you know Cap’n Crunch’s full name is Horatio Magellan Crunch?”
Nico leaned forward in his seat and said, “No one was threatened or injured, fiorellino. I paid them an obscene amount of money in exchange for our privacy. Nothing more sinister than that, I promise. No need for you to be nervous.”
Believing him was probably a mistake. But she did. He hadn’t lied to her about the ugliness of his world yet, so she had no reason to think he’d start now.
They exchanged light small talk for a bit. She filled him in on what had happened at the boutique. He laughed at loud at her imitation of Tenley’s sweet voice hurling threats at the snarky salesclerk.
She listened intently while he discussed his day, which had included breaking up a knife fight between two of his lieutenants because one of them made fun of the pinkie ring the other had received as a birthday gift from his mother. Apparently, various insults were exchanged before weapons were drawn. Nico’s exasperation at the childishness of the whole thing made her snort-laugh more than once during his recounting of events.
He asked her about her hobbies, which, sadly, only included knitting and rewatching her favorite television shows. And either he was actually interested in her answers, or he was the best pretender she’d ever met, because he focused on her with laser precision while she yammered about her favorite yarn and The Vampire Diaries as if she was imparting the secrets of the ages.
She kept the fact that he looked more like Damon but reminded her of Klaus to herself.
Nico said he didn’t have time for hobbies, but when pressed, he admitted to enjoying working out, having mastered several martial arts, and reading before bed every night. A few pointed questions later and she discovered he liked Lee Child’s Jack Reacher series. (And rightfully so. It was fabulous.) Nico looked a little befuddled when she informed him that those things did indeed count as hobbies. She found his cluelessness on trivial matters both charming and adorable.
But by the time they’d ordered their food and started on the obscenely expensive (and phenomenal) bottle of wine Nico selected, they’d run out of low-level, easy conversation material and had to delve into deeper topics.
“Did you always want to be a teacher?” he asked.
“Definitely not,” she admitted. “But school is expensive, and since I was working my way through and not taking out any student loans, I didn’t have the luxury of trying out a bunch of majors until I found the one I loved. I knew the teaching program was the most doable for me, so that’s the path I took.”
“Have you considered going back now? Changing careers?”
Well…not until he just said that. He made it sound like changing careers was as easy as changing her socks. “I can’t say I’ve given it much thought.” She’d been far too busy trying to figure out how to rebuild her savings to put any mental energy into finding a dream career.
“You should. There’s no reason to stick with a career you don’t love.”
“I suppose I’ll be saving money on rent living with you in the mansion. I probably could afford to take some night classes.”
He looked at her like she was the most amusing creature on the planet as he reminded her, “We’re to be married very soon, fiorellino. What’s mine is yours. You can afford anything you want.”
After living with a man who insisted on going 50-50 for everything, then stole her 50%, Nico’s willingness to let her make her own financial decisions, even if those decisions led to her spending tens of thousands of dollars of the money he’d made was…well, fuck…
It was maybe the sexiest thing anyone had ever said to her.
Until…
He shoved the silver breadbasket her way. “Please. Eat. This one is especially delicious,” he said, pointing out an airy, fragrant pain brioche that looked like it had been crafted by angels for God Himself.
If there was anything hotter than a man who liked to feed his woman, River had never seen it.
She wasted no time slapping the bread on her plate and buttering it liberally before taking a nice, big bite. It practically melted in her mouth. The moan she let out in response made her extra thankful that Nico had rented out the restaurant, because the general public did not need to hear her making sounds like that.
Nico’s eyes flared with what could only be described as heat, but he merely smiled at her as she demolished what remained of her bread, then two more pieces.
